


A Wish and an Accident

by moonblooch



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Mentions of Character Death, Time Travel, but only because the timline wouldn't let them be a high enough level to get wish yet, but then i had a theory, i'm being a bit vague with the means of time travel, initially this was just a fix it fic, rated teen for some cursing, zemnian has google translate grammar rules
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-08-22 03:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16589597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonblooch/pseuds/moonblooch
Summary: An alternate timeline where Lorenzo lives, and the thurviving three travel back in time in order to get the jump on him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As ever I do not own any of these characters. Please support real Critical Role and the lovely people who make it.

“Nein!” Caleb was pacing back and forth, weaving side to side as if very drunk. “Nein! Nein! Es ist zu spät!”

Nott, for her part was doing her best to impede his movement. “Caleb you shouldn’t be moving so soon after a big spell. You’ll only do more damage.”

“I am too late Nott!” Caleb fell to his knees. “I cannot,” he choked on a sob that couldn’t quite make it all of the way, “I cannot stop him.”

“Look man,” Beau spoke up from where she had fallen to the ground, “we can still do something, but we’ve gotta start small right? Shady Creek Run first, then we worry about Ikithon.”

Caleb collapsed entirely, curling in on himself.

“Oh Caleb.” Nott reached out a tentative hand.

“We just need to get to ‘Duceus, yeah?” Beau pushed herself to her feet. “We need to give him something and convince him to go with us in, uh, how long do we have now Caleb?”

“Seven hundred and twenty eight days, five hours, forty minutes and fifty three seconds.” Caleb was hugging his knees. His voice sounded thin and weak, he was about to pass out for certain.

“Right, so a while. And we need to get him something.”

“Maybe some nice cups?” Nott piped up.

“Sure, then we need to find somewhere to lie low and figure out how to kill the fuck out of Lorenzo and rescue the others.”

Caleb appeared wholly comatose at this point, despite the healing potion that Nott was forcing down his throat.

“Where even are we?” she asked, looking around. “Have you got the maps Beau?”

“Yeah, hold on.” Beau dug through her bag. “Caleb didn’t stick them in the bag of holding did he?”

“I don’t think so.” Nott shifted Caleb so that his head was on her lap. “I’ve got a compass somewhere in my button bag, can you get us horses without getting into trouble?”

“Yeah, I think so – got em!” Beau unrolled one of the scrolls she had extracted from her bag. “Right one, first try! This is all gonna go great!”

“Don’t jinx it! You know He can’t resist that sort of thing, holding that right in front of Him isn’t fair.” Nott snapped, waving Jester’s symbol.

“Fair to us or to Him?” Beau asked.

“Either!”

A cluster of birds flew overhead, startling both of them.

“Okay you two need somewhere to hide if I’m getting the horses. How about those trees over there?” Beau gestured to a small copse, a short way from the road.

“Sure, let’s go to the woods. Nothing scary ever lives in those.”

“It’s better than sitting on the edge of the road.” Beau pointed out. “Besides it means you’ve got shelter until I can get some shit together. From what Caleb’s said he’s gonna be tapped for at least a few days, maybe a bit longer, and probably physically useless for a while. I’ll help you get him into a tree or something.”

She lifted Caleb up by his arms and started dragging him towards the trees. Nott followed reluctantly.

“You won’t take too long, right?” Nott asked, scuffing over their tracks. “Only last time we were like this, we’ve _never_ been like this.” she said with a note of horror in her voice. “Me and Caleb have travelled alone before but it’s never been just the three of us. Last time we at least had Keg and Nila, then Caduceus. Now it’s just us.”

Beau tried for a smile between gritted teeth. “We’ll get back to the others eventually. We’re doing this so that they’re safe, right?”

“I know.” Nott said, wringing her hands. “But this is feeling like a worse and worse way of doing things every time I think about the fact that we _travelled back in time._ ”

“We hope we did.” Beau pointed out. “Trees look damn near identical even with a few years difference, I don’t think we’ll know until I can get to the nearest town.”

The sun was low in the sky by the time they broke the treeline, neither of them able to tell the time exactly, and they walked a few feet before breaking into a clearing and being confronted by what could only be described as chaos. Great welts were carved into the dirt of the earth without any apparent reason, gashes which scarred the trees deeply enough to draw sap. Strange pigments laid out in an incomprehensible pattern, chalk, candles. Spatters of a dark fluid, which was looking more and more like blood with each passing second, were flung about in a manner which suggested a scuffle.

“I don’t like this.” Nott muttered. “I really don’t like this.”

“At least it’s easy to find.” Beau tried, sounding weak even to her own ears. “Plus nobody’s stupid enough to fuck with this sort of thing, so you’ll be safe.”

“Ha. Nobody stupid enough apart from us apparently.” She squinted. “Traveller’s sake is that a grave?”

To one edge of the clearing there was a mound of dirt. Not quite conspicuous on its own, but in this particular setting it seemed ominous.

Nott raised the question neither of them particularly wanted to ask. “Do we want to check what’s in that?”

“I mean this was a ritual of some sort, whatever that is could come back to bite us if we don’t.” Beau replied. “Literally.”

She propped Caleb against a tree and followed Nott to the head of the grave where she had begun pawing at the loose dirt. They only had to dig about a foot before Nott held up a hand, signalling a stop.

“I’ve got something.”

She brushed the dirt away, slowly revealing a curled horn. They both stared at it for a second.

“Fuck I’ve just thought of something.” Beau leant back, both hands clutching her hair. “Fuck.”

“What is it?”

“How long did Caleb say we have?”

“Seven hundred and something I think.”

“Ugh, what’s that in years?”

“I don’t know Beau, did you see a lot of goblins in your classes at monk school?”

“No I mean it’s like two right?”

“Maybe, why?”

“Molly!” Beau frantically pointed to the horn protruding from the dirt. “Molly said he came back two years ago. Gustav said they found him up north. What if this is him?”

“Fuck.” Nott concurred, and started scraping earth away once more. “I’m seeing purple.”

“Son of a bitch was telling the truth.” Beau sat back. “Guess we get to find out how he came back now.”

“I don’t know if I want to stay here Beau. That might not be Molly yet.” Nott shot a worried glance at Caleb, who still hadn’t stirred. “I don’t want to be fighting anything on my own.”

“I know Nott it’s just,” Beau shrugged, “it feels wrong to leave him again, especially after the others, at least until we know he’s headed in the right way.”

“We’re on a tight schedule though right? We need horses and stuff.”

“So I can get those while you wait here.” Beau said slowly as if testing the words out. “Same plan as before, only you keep an eye out for him until he wakes up.”

Nott wrinkled her nose.

“I’ll help you get Caleb into this tree here, come on Nott.”

Nott sighed. “I wish I still had my flask. Yeah, why not? I’ll just hang around and wait for Molly to turn into a zombie.”

Beau clapped her shoulder. “That’s the spirit.”

She walked over to Caleb’s slumped form again and hoisted him onto one shoulder, lugging him over to the tree and setting him at the base. Then she slapped him.

“Augh, was,” Caleb’s hands came up in front of him before his eyes seemed to come back into focus. “Beau? Why did you – why?”

“I’m gonna need you to climb that tree bud.” Beau said, helping him to his feet. “Come on, I’ll give you a boost. One, two, three, hup!”

Between her and Nott they managed to drape Caleb over a branch, his trembling arms failing to find purchase on the lower limbs of the tree. He promptly passed out again. Nott scrabbled up next to him and shoved his folded scarf beneath his head. Beau joined her in the adjacent branch, tugging her goggles down.

“I’ll take first watch, I’m going to need you to wake me up early to get to a market though.”

“Yeah, I can do that.” Nott sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Traveller, there’s not enough booze in the world for this. This is what we get for not killing Lorenzo the first time around.”

“We barely got away that time around, we couldn’t have killed him.” Beau said, in an effort to convince herself as much as Nott.

“Could have saved the others though.” Nott held Jester’s symbol up, watching it spin in the dying light. “Could have done a better job at least.”

“That’s what we’re doing though, right?”

“I really hope so Beau, I really do.”

֎

“So we have to be careful not to be seen,” Caleb was saying the following evening, “because we have technically already done this.”

“I don’t follow.” Nott replied, plucking feathers from the pigeon she had shot down minutes previously. They had basic rations, but fresh vermin where she could get it was always better.

The two were alone, still sat in the tree, as Beau had set off that morning to find horses, and a cart on the basis that Caleb probably wouldn’t be able to even think about riding without passing out for the foreseeable future. Beau had left with a wave and half of their total rations, promising to be back within the next few days. Assuming that nothing went horribly wrong. Assuming that a lone traveller wouldn’t immediately be picked off by a larger group. Too many assumptions for any semblance of comfort but travelling together would cost too much time on foot, particularly when one could barely walk.

“With time travel, we are technically in our own pasts.” Caleb continued, “So if we do something that gives past us a reason not to back in time then we will not go back in time, meaning that we will have to go back in time, which means that we will not go back in time and so forth.”

“I still don’t get it.”

Caleb sighed. “Look, imagine what would happen if you went back in time and killed your grandfather.”

“I don’t know who that is.”

Caleb gave in and laughed, in spite of himself. “Never change mein freund.”

Nott continued plucking the pigeon, letting the feathers fall to the ground. Molly, or whoever or whatever was in that grave, had not stirred yet; nor had anyone appeared in an attempt to resurrect him. In fact, even animals seemed to be avoiding the site, Nott’s pigeon had been the first either of them had seen that day.

The sun was setting, but the normal noises associated with night time in a forest had yet to make an appearance. The quiet had been one of the worst things about the previous night, neither Beau nor Nott wanting to break it in case they weren’t alone.

“I can stay awake a little longer, I will take first watch.” Caleb said as the sun finally dipped below the treeline.

“You don’t have to do that Caleb, you need rest.” Nott replied, reaching for a flask that was no longer hooked to her belt then realising that she didn’t have it.

“I have had plenty today Nott. I will wake you if anything comes for him or us.” Caleb reached into the bag of holding and pulled out the box containing the dodecahedron. “Have you used this today?”

“No. Should we have sent it with Beau?”

“Maybe, but without it I am just a dead weight if we are attacked.”

He removed the strange glowing object and held it in both hands. Once again the world around him diminished, as if everything it cast light on was being drawn into it in a slow spiral. The branch fell away from him, then Nott, then the woods, then the world itself. Millions upon billions of tiny threads wove past his eyes, shooting out from every surface of the dodecahedron. Caleb let out a slow breath as he waited for the threads to retract and the power to flow into his chest.

This was not what happened.

The threads began to twist and writhe, swirling and spiralling into a rope on one face of the object, arcing down towards the ground in a curve. The rope spun, faster, faster, letting out a high-pitched whistling song that pitched up and down in a mad waltz of a tune, suddenly shooting out in a definitive line to the base of the tree.

The world slowly came back to focus.

“What just happened Nott?”

Nott’s eyes went wide.

“What do you mean what happened? Was it the thing?”

“You did not see that?”

“See what?” her voice was bordering on hysterical. “Did the thing do something? I knew it was evil!”

“Nein, no. The power it just shot down.”

“Down where?”

“Down there.”

He pointed and they both leaned over looking towards the base of the tree. Caleb was greeted with pitch blackness, but Nott let out a gasp.

“Caleb.” She whispered.

“Ja?”

“The ground’s moving.”

They both listened, neither daring to move, to the wet scrabbling noise coming from the base of the tree.

Seconds passed, then minutes.

Nott cupped her wire in her hands and Caleb heard a barely audible whisper in his head. “He’s up.”

Rustling sounded from the ground below, moving further away, out of the woods.

“Well shiesse,” Caleb said, tucking the dodecahedron back into its box, “I guess that answers that question.”


	2. Chapter 2

“What do you mean you let him just walk off?”

Caleb had found himself being hoisted off the ground by his lapels as Beau appeared to be trying to shake the answers out of him. Nott had elected to stay in the tree, out of grabbing range.

“He has already told us how he remembers these things happening. We were not a part of those memories, so we cannot get involved.”

Beau shook him.

“Beauregard, we may risk this entire mission if we stop to help him.”

Beau shook him again, letting out a sound of frustration.

“He clearly made it to the circus safe the first time around, I do not see –”

Beau slapped him.

“Is that what you’re telling yourself Caleb? Fucking really?” she had him held aloft by one hand but still managed to slam him into the tree. “Did your perfect memory fail you? He was vague as fuck when he told us that story, there were plenty of gaps in it where terrible shit could have happened to him.”

“She does have a point Caleb.” Nott spoke up. “Molly doesn’t have his full mental faculties right now; I’m sure he thought the story he told us was the truth, but who knows?”

“Thank you Nott, would’ve been great if you could’ve thought of that one when you let him walk off on his own.”

Caleb shook his head in an attempt to make the world stop spinning.

“How could we have stopped him Beau?” he asked. “He may have attacked us. Neither of us are proximity fighters and even if I had access to my full power any ranged attack Nott or I could have done would most likely have put him right back in the ground.”

Beau dropped him and he staggered, slumping against the tree trunk at his back. He hated how his legs were still trembling, how he was fighting gravity to stay upright. Even at his worst, he had not been this weak in years. He closed his eyes for a moment and let the numbers drift through his mind. They had seven hundred and twenty five days, nine hours, fifteen minutes and forty four seconds. This was when the Mighty Nein would meet for the first time. They needed to visit Caduceus at least five months prior to this, though they thankfully had a few day’s leeway in this due to his infuriating habit of measuring time in seasons. They had to get diamonds, a lot of diamonds. More than they currently had at any rate, and jade dust. All this while avoiding their past selves.

But they had time.

Now that the fog of panic had had a chance to fade from his mind he realised that they had time. They could afford a few days to get Molly to the circus safely.

“We can get him there.” He said to the others. “They must be in the area, ja? He would not have made it far.”

Beau, who had been pacing for long enough to calm down, nodded.

“Which way did he go?” she asked. “We should start soon.”

“That way.” Nott replied, pointing South East. “You’re not going to kill us are you?”

“No Nott, I’m sorry I got angry like that.”

Beau let out a sigh.

“It’s just, I got a tattoo for that jackass, y’know? Can’t help but get a bit sentimental after that.”

He was the first party member they lost, Caleb thought to himself. Oh they had lost the other three before that, but for them there had been hope; Molly had been the first to die. Not the last. That was why they were here.

Nott scrambled down the tree.

“Let’s get going then, I can see a few footprints we can follow.” She reached for her hip and cursed when she found only Jester’s holy symbol, not her flask. “How many horses do we have?”

“Just the two. You’re alright riding with this sack of bones, right?” Beau replied, smacking Caleb’s shoulder a little harder than necessary.

֎

As they picked their way out of the trees and along the muddy road, Nott spoke up.

“What do we need to do?”

“What do you mean?” Beau responded. “We need to convince Caduceus to come with us and we need to kill Lorenzo.”

“Yes, but do we actually have a plan or are we just making shit up again?”

This left the others in silence and she restrained herself from sighing, wishing once again that she had her flask with her. She had left it in the future, under a mound of dirt and clutched in Jester’s hands. It was the only thing that had seemed a fair trade for the traveller’s symbol. Jester was the happiest person she knew.

The symbol was now on a chain wrapped around her belt, covered by a small drawstring pouch which had been threaded over it. It was more a safety measure than anything else; illegal god and all that, but that was if the Traveller even was a god. Clearly not a very good one, since Jester…

She needed to stop thinking about that, for the sake of her partner in solving crime if nobody else. She thought about what they needed. Spell components, she knew that. Fleece, jade dust, diamonds, probably some graveyard dirt depending on what their final plan was, though her mind was spiralling with possibilities already.

“How are we going to get the money for all of the components we need?” Caleb asked. “It is not as though we can rely on our usual contacts.”

“Shit, you’re right.” Beau replied. “And we can’t go to the Reserve either. I guess we take odd jobs?”

“Not the sort that pay enough for what we need.”

“Most of it’s spell stuff right?”

“Ja, but not the cheap sort. Diamonds are involved.”

“And spell scrolls.” Nott cut in. “Two spell scrolls for Raise Dead.”

Caleb winced, while Beau actually turned to look at her.

“Why two?” she asked. “I know a backup would be useful but those are expensive.”

“At least a thousand gold for two spell scrolls.” Caleb said, “but I fear for Raise Dead specifically they may be closer to ten thousand. We cannot muster that much in the time that we have, not without our usual means.”

“The second’s for Molly.” Nott replied, tutting at the looks of confusion the others gave her. “We’re back in time, we might as well bring him back after Lorenzo gets him, right?”

“We can consider that later; I think I see him.” Caleb said, pointing ahead of them.

Following his hand, Nott noticed a figure shambling down the road ahead of them. She glanced down, seeing for the first time the dark drops of blood close to the verge.

“Plan?” she asked. “He needs healing.”

“So if anyone approaches him it would be best that it is you.” Caleb said, pulling their horse to a stop. “Should I do your disguise?”

“I don’t want to sound mean here.” Beau whispered, pulling her horse next to theirs. “But don’t heal him too much. We need him not to remember us, if he gets much better he might stand a chance.”

Nott felt the familiar, almost comforting at this point, tingle of illusion stick to her skin like static. She gave her hands a cursory glance and was surprised to find that they were blue.

“Caleb,” she began.

“Do not worry liebling.” He replied. “I did not make you Jester, although the skin shade is perhaps closer than I intended.”

“Why is she glowing Caleb?” Beau asked.

“Mollymauk was a follower of the Moonweaver, ja? I understand that divine intervention is overkill but better that than he recognise us. Nott can approach him, heal him, and I will send him to sleep until we find the circus.”

Nott found herself nodding. “Do either of you have a mirror? I wouldn’t mind seeing what I look like as a god.”

Caleb pulled a small hand-held from the bag of holding and she held it up, inspecting the illusion. Her hair was now white, and long enough to brush her ankles. She was dressed in layers upon layers of a loose gauzy fabric in various shades of purple and white. The face she was wearing was strikingly similar to Jester, though she believed Caleb when he had said it was not deliberate; it was difficult not to think of Jester at the moment, particularly considering the haversack that was in open view on Beau’s saddle. Her face even had freckles.

“Traveller help me.” She muttered, more to herself than the god in question, then she jumped from the horse. “Best get this over with.”

Caleb followed her to the ground, but did not follow her as she stomped down the road towards the swaying figure in front of them.

“Hey, you!” she called when she was close, but still out of range. Molly didn’t seem to respond, not even acknowledging her.

She scurried closer, summoning a Mage Hand to tap him on the shoulder. Still no response.

She gave up entirely on the idea of getting him to turn around and planted herself in front of him. This at least seemed to prompt some recognition.

“Can you talk?”

“Empty.”

A voice that sounded as if it belonged in nightmares, reedy and wheezing, met Nott’s ears. This wasn’t Molly, she decided. Not yet.

But they could make sure that he would be.


	3. Chapter 3

“Alright, just hold still a second.” Nott reached a tentative hand up towards Molly’s arm, as high as she could reach. She cast Cure Wounds, letting the still unfamiliar magic flow along her skin and onto Molly’s. He recoiled, crying out.

“ ** ~~Ɇ~~** ** ~~ʩ~~** ** ~~ҸԮ~~** ** ~~ʆ~~**!”

Pain shot through her head and she staggered backwards, tugging on her ears as static tinged the edges of her vision.

“Schlafen!” Caleb’s voice cried out.

There was a thud as Molly slumped to the ground in front of her, eyes closed.

Footsteps rushed up to her and Nott felt Beau’s hands land on her shoulders.

“Are you okay Nott?”

Nott nodded, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“I’ve had worse, it’s not worth wasting healing on yet. Ugh.” She opened her eyes slowly, blinking in the dim light. “Forgot that he could do that.”

Beau rose to her feet, but the tips of her fingers still rested on one of Nott’s shoulders.

“Hey Caleb!” she yelled, making Nott’s ears ring, “how long’s this shit last?”

“One minute.” Came the call back to her. “Give or take a few seconds depending on the state of the person.”

“Why’d you waste the magic for that then?”

“So that you can restrain him and knock him out. You tried enough times when he was alive I would have thought it obvious.”

Beau flipped him off with both hands and Nott decided to let her have that one. Just like she was letting Caleb’s past tense in referring to Molly as alive go; it was still difficult enough to believe that he was there and walking around.

Nott shuffled over to Molly and inspected him more closely. He had not been hurt in the fall, at least from what she could see. Closer inspection revealed some rope burns on his wrists (tied up), a swollen ankle (broken) and a whole lot of smaller cuts and bruises which probably sat atop deeper injuries.

“Can we get him on one of the horses without too much pressure on his chest?” she asked. “I’d bet anything there’s some broken ribs there.”

“Sure.” Beau replied. “You want me to splint this leg while I’m tying him up?”

 “It may be better to blindfold him also.” Caleb ventured, leaning against their horse for support. “I cannot be certain how long the illusion will last.”

“We’d better find somewhere to stop over soon then; can’t have anyone seeing us and asking too many questions about the beat up looking blind guy.”

Beau secured the last knot, then went over everything she had already tied. She seemed to be testing them, Nott noticed, slipping two fingers underneath each coil so that circulation couldn’t be cut off. Trussed up like some sort of monster, seeing Molly of all people like that sat wrong with her. It jarred her bones when he had been so animated in her memory.

Beau hefted him over one shoulder.

“Gotta remember he’s dangerous as long as he can bleed.” She huffed, with something resembling a smile. “How long do we have on this sleep spell Caleb?”

“It has gone. I doubt he will wake now if your manhandling did not do it.”

“Cool.”

Beau draped Molly over the back of her horse with little ceremony before hoisting herself up.

“There’s a small stop-over that way if we follow this road a bit further.” She pointed in a direction which approximated South. “It’s only a little dip off the side of the road, but there’s a fire pit and a couple of logs.”

“Sounds wonderful.” Nott groused. It felt as though they had barely moved today, and the skin on her fingers was practically crawling. She needed to take something, do _something_. She needed booze and they didn’t have any. She needed shiny things and they didn’t have enough of those.

They kept quiet until they reached what was going to be their campsite. It made Beau’s description seem charitable, but Nott only had to see how the others were already slumped like ragdolls to start slowing their horse. Once they were still Caleb slid to the ground, knees buckling as his feet touched it but thankfully staying upright. He pulled out a bead and began muttering, weaving towards the driest looking log.

“Did you manage to get any rations Beau?” Nott asked, swinging on a stirrup as she tried to dismount.

“Nothing fancy, but yeah.” Beau replied, easing Molly’s limp body from the back of her horse. “Plus the haversack still has a bunch of pastries in it.”

“No point in saving them I guess.”

“Fuck no.” Beau snorted. “They’re stale enough already. The first thing we’ll do once we’ve got Jester back is buy her some fresh ones.”

“Here, here.” Nott raised an imaginary flask in a toast.

There was a small _thwump_ noise as the now familiar dome popped into existence.

“I’ll get Molly inside, can you tie up the horses?” Beau asked.

“Sure, I’ll join you in a bit.”

Nott reigned the horses to a log with a small branch shooting off it before poking her head into the bubble. Molly had been laid out on one side, Beau was knelt by his head and digging through the haversack at her side. Caleb lay on his back in the centre of the dome, eyes closed but clearly not asleep yet.

“Are you doing okay Caleb? Do you want to get Frumpkin?”

Caleb shook his head.

“I would very much like to have him with us now, but he is magical and my summoning him may take him away from my past self. Or I may not be able to summon him at all.” He paused for a beat, the look he got when pinning down how many seconds of the day had passed crossing his face. “Best not to take the chance; other me will need him more about now.”

“Okay I’ve got slightly stale bread and some salted mystery meat, emphasis on the salted part.” Beau interrupted. “Who’s hungry?”

Nott insisted on taking their first watch that night in the hopes that all of her restless energy could actually be useful for something. Neither she nor Caleb had slept the night prior, not after Molly happened, but she found herself unable to even sit still, let alone sleep. She almost felt relieved when she saw a hooded figure approaching. Mindful not to disturb the others she loaded her crossbow, easing the mechanism into place to prevent too loud of a click, then exited the dome. Levelling the bow at their visitor, who was now a lot closer to the horses than anyone with good intentions would have been, she spoke.

“Any moves and this bolt goes between your eyes.”

The hooded figure turned, a smile playing about his lips.

“That’s no way for a follower to treat me is it? It’s not as if I have any eyes to begin with. Certainly none where you’d be looking for them.”

“What do you mean a follower?” Nott hissed. “Who the fuck are you?”

The figure’s smile stayed fixed in place.

“I go by a great many names,” he began, and with those seven words Nott decided she didn’t like him and never would on principle. “But you, Nott the Brave, know me best as the Traveller.”

Nott aimed the crossbow directly at his smarmy grin.

“How did you find me?” she hissed.

“You wear my symbol do you not?” he gestured to her waist. “And you used my power not but a matter of hours ago. But my followers are few and far between, and you are new to me, so I must ask the same question of you.”

“How did I find you?”

He nodded.

“What _brought_ you to me little one?”

Nott squared her shoulders and glared at the shadow where his eyes should be.

“Jester did.”

(And there shouldn’t have been a shadow for Traveller’s sake, she could see in the dark.)

“Interesting.” He mused in way of a reply. “I can’t say that I’ve seen you around Jester before. She wouldn’t keep a secret from me, certainly not one as fun as you. Not when we’re best friends.”

Nott felt a rage building up inside her and wished, not for the first time, that she was tall enough to give someone human-sized a halfway decent slap.

“She actually wanted to surprise you, when I first got into this. She thought you’d be happy with a new follower. Of course she never got to tell you because you never visited her before she died.”

For the first time the Traveller’s smile faltered.

“Jester is alive, I can feel her.”

“Oh I’m sure you can. But give it a little under three years and she’ll be gone. Not a nice death either, she gets killed by the same motherfucker who’s going to kidnap her in about two years.” Nott paused. “Come to think of it you didn’t stop that either. Jester was your only follower at that point so I don’t see what else you could have been doing, you must not think she’s your best friend after all.”

The Traveller seemed visibly agitated now, hands clenched in the folds of his cloak.

“Jester will not die!”

“And how are you going to stop that? The same way you did last time, doing fuck all?”

“What do you mean by ‘last time’?”

“Take a wild guess.” Nott growled throwing her arms out. “It’s going to have to be pretty fucking wild to get it right, but I’m sure you can manage if you’re really a god.”

The Traveller fell silent

“There are,” he said haltingly, “there are two of you.”

“Getting warmer.”

“The magic around you and your friends it’s, it’s strange.”

“You want me to put you out of your suspense?”

He shook his head.

“You’re from the future. That’s, that can’t happen. It’s impossible.”

Nott felt her mouth tug itself into a smile.

“Lucky for the both of us that my boy was able to make it possible then. Lucky for Jester too.”

She didn’t mention their deal. Caleb had been clear when they came up with this plan that it was not just a matter of saving the others; this kind of reality splitting magic was the kind of thing he could only do once. As well as their best shot at saving the others this had been his only chance to rescue his parents, or perhaps stop his younger self. They had fought about it, Beau in particular, and it had been perhaps the first time Nott had actually challenged him on anything. Oh she had nudged him before, but the screaming fit that had taken place in that small campsite a ways off the Glory Run Road was something new entirely.

The argument had ended with Caleb pointing out that he could travel back without them if he so chose and Beau whacking him around the head with her staff before agreeing to his proposition.

“What do you believe in Nott the Brave?” the Traveller asked. “Do you believe in me?”

“Jester believed in you and Caleb believes in second chances.” Nott said squaring her shoulders. “I believe in them. So I believe that I owe you a second chance. But if you let Jester die again I will hunt you down and send you to join her.”

The Traveller laughed, something that echoed through the air around her and made her hair stand on end.

“Jester was training you to be a cleric I take it?”

Nott nodded.

“Not a poor choice on her part, but I don’t feel that you have quite enough faith in me for that. I don’t blame you Nott; as far as you’re concerned I have done you wrong. But I have a different proposition for you.”

“As long as I can still heal.” She replied. “Someone needs to patch up these idiots.”

This prompted another chuckle.

“Don’t worry, you will be able to heal. But I have no need of another priestess, not yet.” he held out a hand, “tell me Nott, the Brave, what would you say to being my champion?”

֎

Beau woke for her watch to find Nott holding something out in front of her, frozen outside of their dome. She barely even seemed to be breathing.

“Psst,” she hissed, keeping her voice low so as not to alert anything with might have put her in that state, “Nott. All okay out there?”

Nott shook her head as if coming out of a daze before scampering back over. Beau pulled her goggles down and swept her gaze around them. Nothing else seemed to be moving and the horses seemed okay, so why Nott had left was unclear.

“Sorry I didn’t wake you up Beau. It’s just,” Nott had the look on her face that said she was thinking about hiding something, “something happened.”

“Shepherds something d’you think?” Beau asked, reaching backwards for her staff.

“No! Fuck, no. It was,” Nott waved her hands as she was saying this and for the first time Beau got a good look at the thing she was holding, “something happened and I took care of it is all.”

The rod, though for her it was almost a staff, clasped in Nott’s hand seemed to be made from a green stone and had a crudely carved face at each end, each one framed by wings. Gleaming orange gems encased in silver ran its length, each emitting a soft glow like an ember in a dying fire. Clearly this thing was magic.

“Nott, what exactly happened?”

Nott fidgeted for a moment before blurting out “the Traveller showed up.”

“Jester’s god?” Beau couldn’t see why he’d have much interest in them. Sure, Jester had been training Nott in some cleric stuff before everything went to shit, but she hadn’t been sure if Nott had ever seen the Traveller as Jester claimed to. She hadn’t even been sure if Nott _was_ using the power of the Traveller when she had accumulated so many holy symbols during their travels.

“You’re sure it was him?”

“Yes. He’s my god too now apparently.”

Beau nodded. He hadn’t been much use so far but divine help wasn’t something you turned your nose up at, even if she didn’t actually believe in any gods. Sure, they existed, but that was a proven fact. Apart from the occasional tribute to the Knowing Mistress, which was kind of mandatory in her job, the fact that the gods existed didn’t mean they deserved her devotion.

“What do you mean Nott?”

“I explained what happened, he wanted to help. We made a deal, he gave me this.” She held up the rod. “Then he left. Apparently stealing this from wherever he got it took a lot out of him so he won’t visit for a while.”

“When you say you made a deal,” Beau let herself trail off, knowing Nott would fill her in.

“He asked me to be his champion. I think it might be a bit like the thing Fjord had going on, except with someone less obviously evil than a murdery sea serpent.”

“I didn’t think gods were as into that kind of thing.”

Nott shrugged in response.

“Okay, if it helps us get the others back I won’t question it too much for now. Just don’t go eating any balls okay?”

Nott smiled. “It might be a bit late for that, some of the mystery meat looked pretty ball-like.”

Beau allowed herself a small laugh.

“I’m going to wake up Caleb, see if he can figure this rod of yours out, okay?”

“That would probably be for the best. I don’t want to end up eating this.”

Beau shuffled over to Caleb’s sleeping form, stopping briefly at Molly to make sure he still had a pulse (which he did, thank fuck). She shook his shoulder until he came to, blinking despite the darkness.

“Was?”

“We need you awake for a while Caleb, we’ve had a visitor.”

“Augh,” he pushed himself up, “anyone important?”

“Only the motherfucking Traveller apparently. C’mon, we need you to identify this thing he gave Nott.”

Once they were both upright, though not standing, they returned to Nott. She was still clutching the rod, holding it out in front of her as if it might bite.

“May I see that liebling?” Caleb asked, holding out a hand.

Nott nodded and passed it over.

“He just reached into his cloak and pulled it out, like it was a bag of holding or something.”

Caleb placed the rod on his lap and dug around in his components pouch, pulling out a ratty looking feather and a pearl before beginning his mumbling. Beau watched carefully in an attempt to understand his convoluted spellcasting process. Magic was bullshit, but increasingly often she was beginning to think that it might be useful bullshit, maybe even helpful.

“What do you think he meant?” she asked Nott under her breath, “when he asked you to be his champion?”

Nott shrugged once more.

“I think just to keep up the sort of stuff we were doing before. Spread chaos, but the fun kind. Try and spread the word a bit. I’m not allowed to drink anymore either, which sucks.”

Beau winced in sympathy.

“Jester didn’t drink either, is that like a thing for his religion?”

“No, but after I told him what happened he seemed to think that leaving my flask behind wouldn’t be a fair trade if I just got another one.”

“So you’ll be allowed to drink again once we rescue everyone and bring Jester back?”

“I fucking hope so.” Nott replied. “You know, I’m still half convinced that all this is just the worst hangover hallucinations ever.”

Beau was about to respond when Caleb let out a gasp.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Is it evil?” Nott followed.

“This, this is very powerful.” Caleb said in awe. “I do not know what kind of deal you made with him, but Herr Traveller must really trust you to give you something like this.”

He handed the rod back to her.

“Keep that safe liebling, you may very well have just saved us the cost of the resurrection spell scrolls.”

Nott cradled the rod, the tiny glow of its gems reflected in her dark eyes.

“Does that thing bring people back to life Caleb?” Beau asked.

“That and more.” He smiled, the first genuine one Beau could remember seeing him wear in months. “We may stand a real chance with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who were curious:
> 
> ROD OF RESURRECTION  
> Rod, legendary (requires attunement by a cleric, druid, or paladin). The rod has 5 charges. While you hold it, you can use an action to cast one of the following spells from it: heal (expends 1 charge) or resurrection (expends 5 charges). The rod regains 1 expended charge daily at dawn. If the rod is reduced to 0 charges, roll a d20. On a 1, the rod disappears in a burst of radiance.
> 
> <3


	4. Chapter 4

“I don’t like this.” Beau pouted, holding out the gauzy fabric which had once been her jacket. “You’re sure you can’t do this again Nott?”

Nott shook her head.

“If you’re supposed to be the Moonweaver it’s probably better if your voice is, well, not like mine.”

“There’s nothing wrong with your voice.”

“If you say so. It’s hardly godly though, is it?”

Beau reflexively tried to protest, but bit her tongue when Nott simply shook her head again.

“Ugh, fine. I’ll be the Moonweaver. I guess I’m the only one who can carry him anyway.”

They had found the circus a day prior, though the tiny collection of dilapidated tents barely held up to her memory of the place. Maybe she was remembering through rose tinted glasses, but the show which had united the Mighty Nein seemed practically grandiose in comparison. Said tents were now five hundred or so feet away through the trees.

The night was moonless, which Caleb had said was perfect for their… series of things they were going to do (so called because she knew that the moment the word ‘plan’ reared its head they were fucked). After all, what better way to convince the people that the moon was walking among them than if they couldn’t see one in the sky?

Molly still hadn’t woken. They had found him burning up with a fierce fever the morning after the Traveller’s visit. On the few occasions he had stirred he had done little more than moan, sometimes in common, sometimes in infernal. They didn’t have the healing potions to spare to help, the few they did have were too, well, they were too good. Beau didn’t like the state they had to keep him in and she could tell that the others didn’t either, but healing him too much ran the risk of Molly remembering something about them. The last thing they needed on top of everything else was another time paradox to deal with.

Nott had been doing her best, and succeeding, in keeping Molly stable, but she was still grappling with her new powers. And weren’t those powers something? All it had taken was one touch and some of the worst of Molly’s injuries had begun to close. His ankle was still busted, but the lacerations covering him were beginning to look more and more like the faded scars he had worn when they had last seen him.

Beau pulled her goggles down over her eyes and looked over to Caleb, who was toying with a glow worm.

“You nearly done there Caleb?”

“Ja, ja.”

“You’re sure we can’t just let him loose?” Nott asked. “He’d probably just follow one of the lights.”

“Believe me, I did not want to do it this way.” He replied. “If it looked like he could still walk, that is the way that we would do this. This way is our best chance at getting him safe.”

Nott nodded, slipping the ropes from Molly’s body with disconcerting ease and coiling them for safe storage. Molly didn’t move, he barely even seemed to be breathing. Beau crouched, then slung him over her shoulder.

“Ah, I would perhaps suggest that you do not carry him like that.” Caleb suggested, producing a battered length of leather from the depths of one of his pockets. “It looks careless.”

“You think I should carry him bridal style?” Beau found herself asking with a certain level of horror. Future Molly would have suffocated laughing at something like that. “I won’t be able to fight if I do that.”

“If all goes well you will not have to fight anyone. And I am certain he will understand if you have to drop him, you can apologise when we have him back for good. Now would you rather have lights or the ability to fly?”

Flying sounded really cool. She’d only seen Caleb use it once before, rather appropriately, on Yasha. Yasha had shot into the air, unfurling her wings once she reached the highest point she could, then dived to slam the sharp end of her sword directly between the eyes of the dragon they were fighting. Beau had never had much faith in the gods, but watching _that_ as she bled out on the ground was perhaps the closest thing she had had to a religious experience. Or maybe that had been the concussion she had at the time talking.

All but a small part of her cried out in protest as she said “maybe the lights? Or am I glowing enough already?”

“Looks pretty glowy to me.” Nott said, looking up briefly from the rope she was still shoving into one of their bags.

“But still a no to the flying for now, thanks Caleb.” Beau continued, “Save your magic for getting us out of there.”

It was only practical; she wasn’t an experienced flyer. The last thing that she needed was to drop Molly on his head from a great height, no matter how fantastic of a punchline that would make later on.

She ran through the series of events that were about to happen. She was going to walk into camp and, using every bit of repressed posture training her parents had made her go through to look regal and holy, demand that Gustav was brought to her. She was going to spout some bullshit about divine destiny, dump Molly on him, then get the fuck out of there before anyone asked any questions.

“Ready to go?” she asked the others, swinging Molly into both of her arms with as little grace as she could manage.

“Ja.”

“As ready as we’re going to be.”

“Great.” She replied. “And the code word for _get me the fuck out of there_ is?”

“Mollymauk.” Two voices chorused back to her.

None of them liked it; it almost seemed like they were taking a choice away from him. But they couldn’t run the risk of something even more stupid sounding, then meeting Molly later only to find that he was actually called Uno. It wasn’t worth breaking the timeline over.

Beau re-adjusted her grip, trying to support Molly’s head without impaling herself on one of his horns.

“Let’s do this.”

֎

Caleb trailed behind Beau, making as little noise as possible. Only the two of them had ventured into the woods, Nott instead leading their horses west to their pre-arranged meeting place further along the road. She had tapped him on the arm with a whisper of “ _anweledig_ ” before leaving, meaning that for all appearances Beau was walking alone through the trees. Or the Moonweaver was; hopefully none of the circus had the power to see through the illusion. He was her way out (because running away was the only thing he seemed to succeed at lately).

“Caleb?” Beau whispered.

Under another set of circumstances he might have stayed silent (and the temptation was still there) but they had fifty six minutes and twenty two seconds until Nott’s spell wore off. They didn’t have time to fuck around.

“Ja?” he answered, voice as quiet as he could get away with.

“If I start spouting a load of bullshit could you, I don’t know, tap me on the shoulder or something?”

“Gods are prone to such things, as I understand it.” Caleb replied. “Certainly if everything that Jester has told us about the Traveller is true.”

“Yeah. Guess we’ll find out from Nott soon enough.”

Another thread to complicate their cat’s cradle of a situation; apparently whatever entity Jester had been praying to had taken a shine to Nott. Divine intervention on their behalf was not a thing to be sniffed at, but that assumed that the Traveller even was a god to begin with. He did not want to doubt Jester, but green cloaks were easily come by, and she had not communed openly with him in the presence of their group that Caleb could recall. He could think of a handful of spells which would produce the effect of an omnipresent shadow over one’s face, even he could have achieved that, and an illusion or teleportation, maybe an artefact which gave the wearer invisibility, would give the effect of appearing from nowhere.

But that left the troubling question of where exactly Jester had been drawing her power from.

They were close enough to the camp now that he could see the firelight flickering on the trunks of the trees around them. He barely dared to breathe when they could finally see the clearing.

“Who goes there?”

Beau could probably have gotten away with dropping Molly at the feet of whoever was nearest then running, but instead she stepped into the light, head held high, to face the owner of that voice. Caleb kept his hand hovering a whisper away from her shoulder, ready to get them out the second something went wrong.

A figure approached them, a shadow against the firelight. Upon closer inspection, Caleb recognised him as the man who called himself Gustav Fletching. He was holding a crossbow in a loose grip, not pointed at Beau yet but Caleb could see that it was primed and loaded.

“Who are you?” he repeated, shifting his stance.

“I go by a great many names.” Beau replied, pitching her voice to sound softer and more sultry than usual. A good start.

“Though you have no need to concern yourself with any of them, I rarely do. And I do not intend to trouble you for long.”

Slightly less good, but it sounded lofty enough that Gustav might have been buying it. He did not look like he was, but he could have been.

“Why are you here?”

Caleb hoped that he was imagining the way Gustav’s fingers tensed on the crossbow.

“I require a safe resting place for this one.” Beau nodded towards Molly, her trailing white hair floating upwards as she did so. “My influence is tragically limited in these parts, or I would care for him myself. I have done what I can, but my power wanes even now.”

She took a step forward and Gustav finally levelled the crossbow at her face.

“I don’t know what you’re playing at, but I’m not a charity. There’ll be half a dozen camps along this road, so you can turn right around and keep walking; maybe you’ll stand a better chance with them.”

Beau remained silent for a few seconds, and though Caleb couldn’t see her face her posture read as tense. He let his fingers brush her shoulder, just to let her know that he was still at her back. With his other hand he reached for the copper wire tucked into his lapel, mind already buzzing with suggestions.

“Go north along this road and you shall find a small grouping of trees, within which you shall find the grave that I retrieved this one from. I could observe nothing of value there, but your mortal eyes may lead you to something which your kind hold greater value in than mine does.” Beau spoke, squaring her shoulders.

There is no gold in that grave, they both know it, but if they can convince Gustav that Molly is worth keeping then that won’t matter.

“When you say ‘mortals’, you mean what exactly?”

Beau apparently choose to ignore this question, which was likely for the best Caleb thought. Gods, much like people who are well endowed, should never insist upon their status to others as it tends to bring said status into doubt.

“I have seen that your fate is entwined with his.” She says instead, keeping a sleepy quality to her voice. “And this one is important to me, so I will entrust his care to you for a time.”

“Say I agree to take him, then what?” Gustav asked, raising his chin. “What’s to stop me from putting him out of his misery as soon as you’re gone?”

“My darling,” Beau replied after a beat, and despite the severity of their circumstances Caleb had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from laughing at how unnatural those words sounded in her voice, “I have said before that my influence in these parts is limited, but it is hardly non-existent. As long as there is a moon in the sky I will be watching over him. I will know if you allow any ill to befall him, and I will not be pleased.”

The crossbow, which had been inching gradually lower, swung back to eye level.

“Are you threatening me?”

“Not yet.” Beau answered. Caleb mentally cursed, then dug into a pocket for a firefly. This was becoming too confrontational for comfort.

“You have not yet given me reason to.” Beau continued. “And I would like to think that you never will. The gift that this one has for understanding the fates will serve you well in future, and you do not strike me as the kind to squander such wonderful things.”

The crossbow finally lowered, though Gustav did not disarm it.

“Will you come back for him?”

“Certainly.”

Gustav shook his head, though the gesture was clearly more self-deprecating than anything else. Caleb dropped the firefly back into his pocket, then returned his hand to Beau’s shoulder.

“Very well then, you can leave him here. I’ll expect appropriate compensation when you come back though.”

“He will have provided that to you tenfold by the time we meet again, but should you feel that something is lacking I shall be happy to supply it.” Beau knelt, laying Molly on the ground as gently as she could manage without seeming ungraceful. She trailed her fingers almost fondly along one of his horns before standing again.

“Sleep well, Mollymauk.”

Taking his cue, Caleb grabbed her shoulder and pulled. With little more than a whispered “Maßtür”, they were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry folks, we'll be seeing Molly again soon enough.
> 
> As ever than you so much for all of your comments <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The two other gods mentioned very briefly in this chapter are from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.

They landed with a thud, sprawled on the road south of the treeline. Beau sprang to her feet almost immediately, but Caleb found that he could not bring himself to yet. Instead he stared up at the clouds above them, where the first stars of the night were beginning to peek through. He counted them, as he counted each breath in and out and waited for his heart to stop beating a bruise into the back of his ribcage.

When at last he heard hooves approaching, he rolled over, pushing himself up with more effort than it would have taken before they came back. Though it was still dark, the break in the clouds over them revealed that the source of the sound was Nott, leading their two horses back to them.

“Did it work?” she asked in an urgent whisper. “Is he safe?”

“He’s safe.” Beau confirmed with a nod. “Pretty sure we’ve convinced Gustav to take him in at least.”

“Well we have not blinked out of existence yet, so we must assume it worked.” Caleb said, dusting himself down. It took him about three very uncomfortable seconds to register the horrified looks that Nott and Beau were giving him.

“Was?”

“That’s something that can happen?” Nott asked, her grip on the reins of the horses going slack.

“Well, ja.”

Surely that had been obvious? Evidently not as obvious as Caleb had thought based on the expressions his companions were still wearing. It appeared that once more he owed them an explanation, a full list of the sheer, terrifying number of ways this mission could go wrong. But they needed to be moving; there was no guarantee that people from the circus would not come this way.

“I can explain when we are further from here.” He told them, dropping Beau’s disguise with a wave of his hand. “The turn off to Nogvurot is only about two days further, we can go west there and when we are far enough that way to make camp safely I will explain.”

“Doesn’t that put us closer to Rexxentrum?” Beau asked. “I don’t know if that’s safe.”

“It is safer than being recognised in Hupperdook.” Caleb pointed out. “We did not exactly keep a low profile the last time we were there, it would be much more difficult to blend in. The only one of us with anything to fear in Rexxentrum is me, and I will not be going in to the city itself.”

“I bet they’re not too keen on goblins either.” Nott said, gesturing to herself.

“There’s probably way to get past it; it’d mean going over the mountains to Druvenlode but it’s not impossible.” Beau suggested, swinging herself into the saddle of her horse.

“It would be with horses.” Caleb replied, reaching for the horse he and Nott were sharing then hoisting himself up. “And on foot at least a day’s travel, maybe two. Not accounting for any wildlife we find on the way.”

He held an arm down for Nott, who grabbed it and pulled herself up in front of him. Both he and Beau guided the horses to a steady trot, taking care not to outpace each other as they continued down the road. Beau kept her goggles down, steering them away from rough patches of road, whilst Nott scanned the horizon for attackers. They soon came to the fork in the road.

“I still think this is a shitty idea.” Beau called to him as they bore right.

“The only alternatives either put us too close to Xhorhas or in a place we might be recognised.” He called back. “We can check the map for smaller roads in the morning.”

They remained quiet until the Glory Run Road was several miles behind them and the first rays of sunlight were beginning to crawl across the sky. Though he knew from their maps that Nogvurot was close, Caleb was also very aware that they would not be able to make it there within the day. If they could rest soon they could probably make it before the next nightfall, but then there was the matter of accommodation, and of payment. They had yet to sort through their funds in order to see which coins were minted before and after their current location in time. Another task for the morning, when numbers no longer eluded him.

Caleb was too tired to be ashamed of the fact that he nearly fell off their horse when they stopped, and immediately began searching his pockets for his spool of thread and a bead. There were spares in Fjord’s old bag, currently slung over one shoulder, but for his own peace of mind he needed to use up the one he kept in his coat before touching those. Picking the patch of scrubland with the longest grass, he set about constructing their shelter.

He allowed himself to stretch once the dome was around him, spine resonating with several uncomfortable clicks as he did so. As soon as he could work out how to alter the bag of holding without disrupting the enchantment, he decided, he was going to turn it into a back-pack.

Nott was the first to duck into the dome, dragging Jester’s haversack behind her.

“Beau’s just making sure the horses are tied up safe, she said to start eating without her.” She said, flipping the bag open and producing a now rock solid doughnut. She bit into it with but a second’s hesitation, apparently ignoring the way that the crunch of the sugary crust was much louder than it should have been.

“I know I’m not going to like the answer to this,” She said around a mouthful of crumbs, handing him some of their leftover jerky, “but what was that you said about us blinking out of existence?”

“Ah.”

He tore a bite from the meat and considered how he was going to word the following explanation.

“You must remember, this is all theoretical.” He began as Beau joined them. “We are the first to travel back in this way, or if there were others before us there are no written records of them. There are an infinite number of ways for us to fuck this up, but the big one is to change the timeline. If we had kept Mollymauk with us, for example, then the Mighty Nein as we think of it would not exist.”

Beau nodded slowly. “So that would split this timeline off from ours, right? ‘Cause this Mighty Nein might never meet, or we might just not have anything to do with the Shepards, which means that Jester would,” her voice caught, “live, which means we wouldn’t come up with this plan.”

“Ja, although we may already jumped to a different timeline to the one we came from; I have no way of knowing. If this version of us does not travel back though, there are a number of things which might happen. Both versions of us may continue to exist, which would mean that we have to live out the remainder of our lives in hiding, but what is more likely is that we, as we are now, would cease to exist because in this timeline we never went back to begin with.”

“But weren’t you going to try and rescue your parents?” Nott asked. “Wouldn’t that do the same thing?”

“There was a risk of that, but it was my intention was to pull them from the house seconds before the flames would have reached them. Let my past-self think that they were dead, and break him again so that events could continue as they already had.” Caleb responded, taking another bite of the jerky.

It would have meant hiding for much longer than Beau, Nott and he were having to, but he would not have had to be concerned about encountering his younger self for at least ten years, and even in the years after he escaped he could use his time in hiding to concoct a plan to get rid of Trent Ikithon

“I can’t believe we went through with this.” Beau muttered, breaking the silence which had fallen over them.

“To be fair we had drunk about half the alcohol in Shady Creek Run when Caleb came up with it.” Nott pointed out. “Compared to some of the other plans we were throwing around I’d say this isn’t too bad.”

Beau released a half-hearted huff of laughter.

“I’m okay to take first watch if you guys need me to.” She said, leaning back against the haversack and adjusting her goggles. “I’ll keep it shorter than usual though, it’d be nice to get to somewhere with real beds as soon as possible.”

Caleb lay down where he was, looking towards the fading stars. He felt Nott curl herself into his side and though the familiarity of this was comforting it only served to emphasise how empty the rest of the dome was. Gone was Fjord’s obnoxious snoring and Jester’s arm thrown over his face, replaced with still air and the first cries of the morning birds.

“We should tell Jester about our other plans.” Nott murmured to him as he closed his eyes. “I think she’d like the one with the bugs and those fireworks we found.”

“The dick ones?” a smile crept across Caleb’s face when he felt her nod. “I am certain that she would.”

“Will.” Nott corrected.

“Ja, will.”

֍

That night Nott dreamed of a green cloak and an aggravating laugh.

But more importantly, she saw Jester again.

She was humming absently to herself, the strains of a shanty Nott vaguely remembered from their time at sea which grew louder as Nott’s view shifted higher and closer. She, through no action of her own, pitched forward, gaining a view over Jester’s shoulder in the process. The paper stretched out in front of them showed a landscape of cluttered rooftops holding up a darkening sky, which Jester was still shading in.

“Hello Jester.”

The Traveller’s voice echoed from somewhere very close, every fibre of Nott’s being was begging for her to whirl around and shoot something but she could not move.

Jester, for her part, let out a squeak and spun to face Nott. A brilliant smile split her face and she threw her arms around, no, not around, _through_ , Nott.

“Where were you? I’ve been looking everywhere.” She asked with a pout.

“I was visiting a friend my dear Jester. I would have come to you sooner if they were not quite so far away.”

“A friend?”

 Jester’s tail waved back and forth wildly in a manner that Nott had learned, having been smacked in the face by it on multiple occasions, meant that she was excited.

“What sort of friend? Can I be their friend too? Wait,” her tail slowed, “you’re still best friends with me, right?”

A chuckle rang through Nott’s ears.

“Of course I am Jester.”

“The bestest?”

“The very bestest. Can I tell you a secret Jester?”

Jester’s eyes grew wide and she leaned in.

“What is it?”

“Of all of my friends, you are the best healer that I have ever known. I’d like to teach you some more magic today.”

Jester all but squealed, tail lashing once again at this statement.

“But first,” the Traveller said, stopping Jester’s erratic motion in a heartbeat, “can you tell me something you have learned since my last visit?”

Jester fell quiet for a moment.

“I’ve learned some songs.” She finally answered decisively. “Some of them are really funny too; there’s this one about a lady and her maid that I’ve almost memorised. Would you like to hear it?”

“Maybe later Jester, but today I think I would like some information.”

“Information?”

Jester nodded slowly for a second, then two, then her face lit up.”

“Oh! I know what you would like.” She exclaimed, snatching her drawing from the desk. “You see this roof here? The pointy one?”

“Yes,” the Traveller replied, “I do.”

“Well today I found out that it belongs to this super powerful wizard guy lives there, and he can make the tower grow and shrink if you are far away from it.”

“Intriguing,” the Traveller’s voice seemed somehow even closer than it had been. “He sounds like _fun_.”

“Nott.”

Somebody was shaking her shoulder, just enough to bring her back to consciousness.

“We need to go, now.” Through the haze she recognised Caleb’s voice. “The road will be very busy soon and we are out in the open. I did not realise last night how bad it was but we are sitting ducks here.”

Blearily she pushed herself up and gathered what few belongings she had which were not strapped to her person. She let herself be lifted onto their horse by a pair of arms that felt like they belonged to Beau and then they were moving, trotting once more towards Nogvurot.

The lights of the city (though really it was more of a town) met them as the sun was retreating. They checked into a shabby inn which claimed to be called ‘the Saucy Lily’ and took one room with one bed.

“I think the Traveller talked to me again last night.” Nott told the others once they had all at least sort of settled.

“Did he say anything helpful?” Beau asked from the weathered chair she had collapsed into.

“That would be a first.” Caleb muttered as he strung his sliver thread about the room.

“Not exactly. He wants us to go to Nicodranas.”

“Isn’t that basically a one-way ticket to blinking out of existence though?” Beau spoke up again, actually looking at her.

“Not as long as we stay in disguise and keep away from Jester. He wants us to visit that guy in the tower.”

Caleb dropped the spool of thread.

“No.” the word was firm, a knife against the tense air around them.

“Wait no, I think she’s right.” Beau said, sitting up straight. “We need allies, right? If anyone’s going to get the whole time travel thing it would be Yussa. That might make him more likely to help us.”

“Or he may kill us all.” Caleb replied, turning to face them. “By doing this we have placed reality itself in great danger. One misstep and we could break everything; it would be safer for him to just kill us and be done with it.”

“But what about Molly? Without us he probably wouldn’t have made it to the circus, maybe we need to make some other stuff happen as well.”

“I would rather that was not the case, we have meddled enough as it is.”

“Well sure, but we don’t have to say that to Yussa, and it’s not like any of us can tell the future.” Beau paused. “Well, Nott might be able to if the Traveller is sending her visions now.”

Nott shook her head; dealing with the present (or past technically) was frustrating enough.

“If He starts showing me the future then I’m converting.”

She could start following Yondalla, or maybe Urogalan. They owed her one anyway, what with the state she was in. At least her statement seemed to lift the mood, drawing a faint huff of laughter from Caleb and a weak smile from Beau.

“I’m not saying we trust Him, but I don’t think He’d ask us to do anything which might hurt Jester, and that includes destroying reality. Even if He doesn’t care about her that would destroy Him too. And I know that the magic rod was probably a bribe, but that’s not the sort of thing you just _give_ to somebody, and why not just give it to Jester? She’s the healer.” After some thought she added, “Sometimes.”

“Well,” Beau mused, “I guess we could bypass Rexxentrum if we go to him. We’ve still got that teleportation circle right?”

“Oh, and that will go well? If we just appear in his office uninvited?” Caleb asked. “We will have to travel there by horse if we do not want to get killed.”

“So we just stick with the original plan where I’m the only one who actually goes in to the city. Or not go there at all.” Beau suggested, producing one of their maps from the haversack. “We can go back the way we came, if we only travel at night we can stick to the road. There aren’t any ways to avoid Zadash or Felderwin without going through a shitload of mountains, and that would mean ditching the horses here.”

Nott felt something tighten around her lungs at the mention of her home.

“We’d be safer in the mountains.” She said reluctantly, drawing the gaze of the others. “We could run into past me in Felderwin, she’d still be alive around now. Beau, I don’t know when you left there exactly but there could be a chance of meeting you in both places, or maybe your family. It just wouldn’t be safe.”

“Shit, yeah. I don’t think I’d be able to stop myself getting into an argument if I saw them again, especially as they are around now. Mountains it is.”

Caleb remained silent when they both turned to him, fidgeting with the ragged ends of his scarf.

“You trust Him?” he finally asked, looking Nott dead in the eyes.

“Not even slightly, but I don’t think He’d kill us yet.” See replied, fighting to keep eye contact. “He already said He wants me to be His champion, that can’t be any worse than what Fjord had going on.”

Not that she wanted to think about that now. She would start worrying when she started coughing up river water. Instead she turned to a lighter topic.

“Maybe if I release the Traveller from wherever He is we can make Him and Ukotoa fight.”

“Now _that’s_ something I’d like to see.” Beau replied with a wicked grin. “Remind me to pitch that one to Fjord when we catch up to our time again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, sorry it's been a while since the last update folks; I've been trying for every other week but a landslide of new AU ideas hit me a little while ago and I've had a hard time staying focused on this one.
> 
> As ever I would like to offer my most heartfelt thanks for your wonderful comments, hopefully I'll see you soon with the next update <3

**Author's Note:**

> So I started this a while ago as more of a thought experiment, like how could Molly come back without seeing the person who did it unless they'd taken enough levels in rogue. But then I remembered that the dodecahedron was supposedly used to bring people back to life so...


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